Acknowledgements xi
Introduction: Affinities as an Invitation to Think Differently 1
Part One: Sensations of Living
Why Sensations? 7
Facets of Sensation 11
1. Ashes, ghosts and the âsense of presenceâ 11
2. âGrandmaâs Handsâ by Bill Withers (version by Gil ScottHeron) 17
3. The sensations of others: childrenâs perspectives 18
Looks 21
Voices, volume and imitation 22
Size, height, weight, growing 24
Play fighting and real fighting 26
Bodily proximity with others 27
Relational traces and bodily inscriptions 27
4. The sensory-kinaesthetic intimacies of violence 29
5. Becky Tipperâs creaturely âmoments of beingâ 31
6. Meat, âfood-animalsâ and Rhoda Wilkieâs âsentient commoditiesâ 33
Layering the Argument: Sensations of Affinity 39
Life is full of sensory-kinaesthetics 40
Sensations are multiple and atmospheric, emanating in encounters 42
Sensations as sensations: not representations, adjuncts or qualities 46
A sensory-kinaesthetic attunement reveals characters 50
Affinities are charged with the energies of fascination, wondering and discordance 54
Part Two: Ineffable Kinship
Why Ineffable Kinship? 59
Facets of Ineffable Kinship 63
1. Family resemblances in literature and art 63
2. Resemblance interactions 68
A familiar conversation topic and form 70
Resemblances as striking, fleeting and capricious 71
Negotiating and âsettlingâ resemblances 72
An uneasy combination of the potent and the trivial 74
3. Resemblance stories 74
4. The still-beating heart 89
5. Nordqvist and Smartâs donors as âenigmatic presencesâ 93
6. Konradâs ânameless relationsâ and âtransilienceâ 97
7. Super-donors and dubious progeniture 101
8. âThe Seedâ by The Roots, featuring Cody Chesnutt 104
Layering the Argument: Affinities of Ineffable Kinship 106
Metaphors of genetics and heritability 106
Poetics and the âfrissonâ of ineffability 111
Wondering about what is circulating and relating 114
Part Three: Ecologies and Socio-Atmospherics
Why Ecologies and Socio-Atmospherics? 123
Facets of Ecologies and Socio-Atmospherics 126
1. Animate places and things in literature 126
Nan Shepherdâs âliving mountainâ 126
Jon McGregorâs city that âsingsâ 127
Haruki Murakamiâs âpulsingâ city 129
Barbara Kingsolverâs Africa as an âattendance in my soulâ 130
2. Atmospheric memories of animate places and things 131
The atmospherics of a teenagerâs city 131
Anat Hechtâs âtangible memoriesâ of home 133
Karin Widerbergâs atmospheric memories of âthe homes of othersâ 135
3. Animate technologies, vehicles and journeys 137
Phone feelings 137
The threaded worlds of train travel 140
Mimi Shellerâs âautomotive emotionsâ and âfeeling the carâ 143
Lynne Pearceâs âautopiaâ of driving and thinking 146
4. Weathery weather in social science and literature 148
5. Writing weather stories 152
6. Socio-atmospherics and the time of the floods 154
Shock: the power and magnitude of water 155
Bearing witness and being in touch 156
An atmosphere of âgetting on with itâ 158
Legacies of the floods 159
7. Weather poetics 164
Layering the Argument: Ecologies and SocioAtmospherics 168
Ecologies as convivialities, assemblages, happenings and animated space 169
The feel of places, things, journeys and technologies 175
Enigmatic ecologies and the socio-atmospherics of living 178
From what is connected to the dynamics of connection 180
Ecological poetics 184
Conclusion: Affinities in Time 186
Three layers of the argument 187
Time: a final layering 188
Time and sensations 190
Time and ineffable kinship 193
Time, ecologies and socio-atmospherics 196
Accepting the invitation of affinities 200
Notes 203
References 204
Index 000
